John Tory leads, Rob Ford gaining support in new mayoral poll

John Tory maintains a narrow lead over Rob Ford after Karen Stintz dropped out of the Toronto mayoral race, according to a new poll by Forum Research.

The poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday, found that Tory is still ahead of Ford, but the lead is narrowing. Meanwhile, support for former NDP MP Olivia Chow is steadily decreasing.

The Aug. 25-26 poll, which surveyed 1,945 people, found that Tory had 36 per cent of the vote, Ford had 31 per cent and Chow had 26 per cent.

David Soknacki had 4 per cent of support, and all other candidates combined had 1 per cent. Six per cent of voters are undecided.

Since June 6, Forum has polled Torontonians about the election campaign every three weeks. In June, Tory had 30 per cent of the vote, and support has grown steadily until the latest poll. Tory dipped from 38 per cent of the vote to 36.

Ford started in June with 22 per cent of support, and rose to 31 this week. There are also fewer calls for Ford's resignation, according to the poll. Nearly 60 per cent of people polled wanted Ford to resign on Aug. 6, compared to 50 per cent in the latest poll.

Support for Chow, however, has steadily dropped from 42 per cent in June down to 26 per cent this week.

"It looks like Rob Ford is on the comeback trail, and although John Tory still has the lead, it is narrowing," Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said in a news release.

"Olivia Chow, on the other hand, is suffering from a different kind of over-exposure. She was introduced to her public too long before she entered the race, and has already peaked."

Stintz supporters split three ways

In the Aug. 6 poll, Karen Stintz was in fifth place behind Tory, Ford, Chow and Soknacki, with 4 per cent of support. Since dropping out of the race on Aug. 21, the majority of her supporters moved to Ford's and Tory's campaigns.

The Forum poll found that 30 per cent of Stintz supporters now back Ford, 27 per cent back Tory, and 24 per cent support Chow.